Meaning in My Life

Something that I find meaningful in my life has been being a junior counselor at Phantom Lake YMCA Camp for the past 3 summers. As a camper I would always look up to my counselors, and I thought it would be really fun to do myself. My first year as an SDP (thats what the junior counselors are called) I had a first year camper that on one night when there was a huge thunderstorm, got really scared. I helped comfort him until it was over and he eventually fell asleep.  At the end of that week, he told me he really wanted to come back the next year, and was looking forward to see me. This was the first time I really experienced and felt that my actions had an influence on campers, and how just like I looked up to my counselors, they looked up to me too.

Are Candides Punishments Fair?

I think that when Candide has to be punished as a deserter, technically his punishment is fair as by the millitary rules.  Desertion is not allowed in any army, and if caught is a pinishable crime, so as his punishment he "runs the gauntlet." Although Candide was forcefully conscripted to the army by the two soldier he meets, the millitary law still technically applies and candide has to face punishment for his action. These are the laws of the military and of his country. Candide is ignorant to millitary laws and to being in the army because of his sheltered life, but the fact that he is now a member of the army still means he must follow millitary regulation and law. On the other hand, we see that Candide is naive and mostly a sheltered and innocent person. He was also forced into the millitary against his will, and doesn't want anything to do with it, so Candide deserts.  If one looks at this perpective, one would say he is unfairly punished and mistreated.  I think that someones opinion on Candide's punishment is up for discussion, can be viewed in either of these scenarios, and we can't really decide which one is more correct as both arguments are equally valid and true.

How do I know what I know?

I know the things I know basically from what has been taught to me or things I have experienced firsthand.  If we don't see things or witness things for ourselves, I guess we don't really know anything but as humans we assume and trust other humans to what they say or know, even though we may not know for certain.  I think that if humans only believed things they have experienced, then the world we know would most likely be a completely different place.  For all we know, if people didn't take leaps of faith in trusting other people, the world could be centuries behind in technology or advancement, or if more people trusted others, we could be centuries ahead of our time.  This is a very speculative discussion that many may have trouble understanding, but I think that as humans, the majority are wise enough to decipher and figure out what is real and what isn't

Not Examined Life / Modern Gadfly

I think that the non examined life is still worth living.  I don't think that every little aspect of our lives should be dissected and thought about for every single thing we do.  There are certain times where it is important to think about and examine out lives very closely and carefully, like when choosing a college, career, marriage, where to live, etc.  If we spend our whole lives worry about whether to examine every little thing, then we could be wasting important moments because of our focus on examining life so much.  In all, some things should be examined, but some little decisions we can brush over.

I think that a modern Socrates is David Letterman.  His talk show has been going on for almost 30 years now and he has always featured provocative material, although with a humorous aspect. When dealing with politicians or even celebrities he pokes fun at their ideas or thoughts that seem to not benefit the American people, and even on an event like 9/11 he got really serious and had a very motivating monolouge directed towards Al-Queda

Eulogy

Gordon Bentley was born in Chicago on May 31, 1995.  He first lived in the Wrightwood neighborhood until he moved to Old Irving Park in 1997.  He attended Lasalle Languave Academy from 2000 to 2009 where he took Italian as a second language.  While at LaSalle, he liked to read A LOT of books and never had videogames growing up. He has a passion for music and a music library (digital and vinyl) that is constantly growing. Gordon was raised Jewish and he had his Bar-Mitzvah in seventh grade in 2008, but after that gravitated to being more non-religious.  He began high school at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in 2009, where he played sports for the boys 16" Softball team in the fall, and did Volleyball and Lacrosse in the spring.  During his summers he would work at Phantom Lake YMCA Camp in Mukwonago, Wisconsin.  He went to this camp for 8 years and in 2012 finished the Staff Development Program.  In school he liked English and History classes the best and continued to take Italian through his junior year. Gordon never liked math of any sort but some Science interests him such as aerospace or outserpace.  He is interesed in many colleges including the University of Michigan, UW-Madison, the University of Illinois, NYU, Boston University, Colombia Univserity, Harvard University, and more.  He has always been a Democrat or a liberal, but not through parental or other influence pushed upon him through school, etc. but through reading political artlices and watching the news and finding out his values and morals.  He wanted to vote for Barack Obama in 2012 but unfortunately doesn't turn 18 until May, so he'll have to wait until 2014 to vote in an election.  His future plans are unknown, but is more interested in the fields of buisness, economics, politics or even government. 

Tell Tale Heart

The tell tale heart is a story of a seemingly insane man (or woman) telling the story of how he or she murdered an old man.  I think that it is being told in court to a judge and jury, and the narrator is pleading for his or her sanity and reason for the murder.  The narrator is scared of "an evil eye"  that the old man posesses, and each night for a week plots to kill him.  Then he finally ups and does it.  But a neighbor hears the ruckuss and calls the police, who then arrive on the scene, to investigate.  When the police do arrive the narroator freaks out and gives himself away due to the alleged beating of the heart.  I think that the narrator is somewhat crazy, but overall sane, the beating of the heart could be the death watches, a type of beetle heard before in the walls, but murering someone because of an eye is a little crazy.

Kick the Can

It was a hot summer day sometime a few years ago.  I was with some of the kids in my neighborhood, Danny, John, Owen, Conley, and Wyatt.  We were all bored of playing hide and seek and tag, so we decided to frind a new game to play.  Danny, who had brought us all cans of Minute Maid Lemonade, suddenly had the idea of playing "Kick the Can."  Nobody had ever played it before, so we all took some time listening to the rules.  When we all understood it, Owen volunteered to be the person who was the tagger, and everbody else ran to hide.  Soon enough he coaught Conley, and she was put in the "jail" zone, which Owen tried defending, but he was overwhelmed and someone kicked the can, so Conley out, and this went on for hours; people getting in jail and then getting out.  Eventually, everyone but I got in jail, and if I wanted to get them all out, I had to kick the can.  So using strategy, I went around some houses to hide and then snuck up around back.  I then hid behind a tree, and waited until Owen had his back turned, and sprinted to the can!  I was halfway there, but then Owen saw me!  I had to arc around, but I still got to the can and kicked it before Owen tagged me, and I freed everybody.  We would play this game all summer, and played it for years, and it would sometimes end in watergun fights to cool everybody off.